story and photos by Cindy Ruggieri
For more than 40 years, Newark Valley in Tioga County goes all out for their annual Apple Festival on the first weekend of October. What started out as a simple fundraiser for the newly created Bement-Billings Farmstead – a living history museum focused on life in the early 1800s – has become a signature autumn event.
The Billings-Bement Farmstead is a collection of historic buildings including the house, barn and farming outbuildings built in the early 1800s, donated for the museum in 1977 to the Newark Valley Historical Society. Events are held throughout the year with costumed interpreters demonstrating the skills and trades as they were done in the early 19th century, and the Apple Fest pulls it all together for this one big event.
In celebration of the autumn season, there are plenty of apples and apple treats: apple pie, apple crisp, wooden crates of apples piled high and freshly pressed apple cider using an antique cider press. The cider press has been owned and operated by the same family over the years; now the next generation travels each year from out of town to support the Apple Fest as they demonstrate how it is used.
There are plenty of other demonstrations on hand to showcase what life was like in the early 1800s. Visitors can visit the blacksmith at work, see spinning and weaving, candle dipping, and woodworking. A huge cauldron over an open fire is used to boil salt potatoes while another cooks apple butter. The farmhouse is open for tours and is furnished as it would have been in the 1800s. Guests can watch a costumed interpreter in the kitchen demonstrating open hearth cooking.
For many of the activities, kids are encouraged to participate and try doing things the old-fashioned way. The woodworking shop has stations set up for kids to try the tools as they learn tin punching by making a heart or an apple design. Kids can feed the apples into the cider press, and they can try their hand at the corn shucking. Wagon rides are available to take a spin around the open field.
There is plenty of music when you are ready to sit and relax. A band or small group will be playing on the stage set up outside, or in the in the Barnista Coffee Café which offers a place to sit, listen to music and grab some pastries and coffee. Plenty of food options are available such as chicken barbecue, pulled pork and salt potatoes. No meal is complete without adding the apple dessert.
Several vendor booths are open to show off local wares. My personal favorites are the beautiful handcrafted dulcimers and the Sweetrees maple products that are there every year.
Stacy Hoyt is the chairperson for the event, but she gives plenty of credit to all the volunteers who devote many hours not only to planning the event but also spending time at the festival doing the demonstrations.
“Some of these volunteers have been doing this for many years. They are dedicated to the mission of the farmstead and preserving past history,” Hoyt said. She also has her own skill that she teaches at the festival. “I started here myself, learning the skill of candle dipping, and I want the next generation to learn it as I did.”
Thanks to the interpreters’ dedication, as well as the wealth of knowledge they share, the Apple Festival provides a fun and easy way to learn history.
Volunteers have worked to keep the festival fresh by adding different attractions over the years. “Last year we tried a new event for the kids to build their own scarecrow,” Hoyt explained. “It was very successful, so we will be doing it again this year. We are always adding and updating, especially with the things in which children can participate.”
It’s an enjoyable autumn day at the Apple Fest with something for everyone, whether immersing yourself in the history, listening to the live music, taking a wagon ride or eating some delicious apple desserts.
The Apple Fest is planned for 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. October 4 to 5. To learn more, visit nvhistory.org.
